The experience of strategic planning for the development of the Ukrainian coal industry

The article analyzes strategies for the development of the coal industry in Ukraine and Russia, reveals their substantial features. The financial, economic, social, institutional and environmental priorities of the development of the coal industry are discussed, which are set out in the programs and strategies of Ukraine, and significant shortcomings in their implementation in practice were revealed. For the Ukrainian economy in the coal industry, a variant of the strategy of integrated growth is considered - combining prospective coal enterprises in vertically integrated structures, as well as reducing the number of unprofitable enterprises that don`t have prospects for further development, retraining workers for work in related industries. Analysis of development programs of the coal industry has revealed a number of important points. In Ukraine, the industry has problems with privatization, subsidies continue to be allocated to support these enterprises; In connection with the fighting, the railway infrastructure has been destroyed, but before it worked efficiently; no modernization of equipment was carried out in mines in state ownership, therefore coal was not in demand in the world market (about 70% of state mines work without reconstruction for 30 years). Among the problems it is necessary to single out non-competitive products in the world market due to high production costs, as well as alternatives to the coal industry in the energy sector, insufficient innovative potential, shortage of qualified labor, social problems associated with unemployment. The analysis showed that the Ukrainian economy should be oriented towards the strategy of integrated growth in the coal industry, which provides for the merger of promising coal enterprises that produce coal for coke chemistry into vertically integrated structures through privatization, as well as cutting costs (closing unprofitable mines), providing of jobs for workers in the coal industry by retraining young professionals for related industries: coke chemistry, metallurgy, energy, payment of social benefits to employees. The main message for the industry to exit the crisis in Ukraine should be the effective and close interaction of the state, business and science for the preparation of joint programs, projects, strategies, concepts, scientific and methodological support of which is a promising direction of research in this direction.